Resuscitation device for mouth-tomouth respiration



y 24, 1956 R. R. MONACO ETAL 3,252,457

RESUSCITATION DEVICE FOR MOUTH-TO-MOUTH RESPIRATION Filed Oct. 27, 1961 FIGS FIG.6

m Twm T mmm N w v A R n ,VW wm /w MM Y B United States Patent Ofifice 3,252,457 RESUSCITATION DEVICE FOR MOUTH-TO- MOUTH RESPIRATION Rosario R. Monaco, Jackson Heights, and Anthony S.

Valente, Massapequa Park, N.Y., assignors to Mastercraft Medical and Industrial Corp., Jamaica, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 148,096 3 Claims. (Cl. 12829) Our present invention relates to a device for use in the resuscitation of persons saved from drowning, and other victims of accidents or disease, by mouth-to-mouth breathing.

In the revival of a seemingly lifeless person by mouthto-Inouth respiration it is necessary to minimizethe risk of infection of the rescuer in the event that the object of his efforts happens to harbor a contagious disease. For this purpose it is desirable to provide means for directing the rescuers breath into the mouth of the patient while blocking a return flow at the instants when exhalation is induced mechanically or when normal breathing is restored. It is, therefore, an object of our present invention to provide a device adapted to satisfy this requirement while insuring an efiicient flow of air from the mouth of the rescuer to that of the patient.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device of this character optionally adaptable for use with a mechanical source of air or oxygen to replace the breath of a live rescuer.

The above objects are realized, in accordance with a feature of the instant invention, with the aid of a mask adapted to overlie the nose and mouth of a person to be resuscitated, the mask having a forward attachment including a mouthpiece connected with its breathing hole via a tube provided with one or more venting apertures leading into the atmosphere; a valve member, such as a disk, is displaceable within the tube in response to air pressure for alternately blocking the mouthpiece apertures or the venting apertures while providing a passage between the breathing hole in the mask and the unblocked aperture or apertures of the mouthpiece attachment. The entire assembly is advantageously made of plastic material which should be flexible in the case of the mask and rigid but preferably transparent (e.g. a polyacrylate) in the case of the attachment.

A more particular feature of our invention resides in the provision of an alternate inlet for air or oxygen on the attachment, this inlet advantageously having the form of a nipple adapted to receive a tube from a supply tank, pump or other source. While the nipple may form part of a plug adapted to be substituted for the mouthpiece, we prefer to make it a permanent element of the assembly by mounting it laterally on the tube or making it integral with the mouthpiece itself. In the former instance the valve means must be modified to prevent the escape of air through the nipple;- in the latter case it will be convenient to make the mouthpiece reversible for alternately utilizing it in mouth-to-mouth respiration and with a mechanical source of air or oxygen.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of our present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view illustrating the use of our improved resuscitation device;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view (parts broken away) of a device according to the invention as shown in FIG. 1, drawn to a larger scale;

FIG. 3 is an end-elevational view of the device of FIG. 2 as seen from the mouthpiece thereof;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a valve disk forming part of the device of FIGS. l3;

3,252,457 Patented May 24, 1966 FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a modified mouthpiece attachment for a device according to our invention;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side-elevational view (parts broken away) of the attachment of FIG. 5 with its mouthpiece inverted;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing a further modification of an attachment for such device in which the mouthpiece has been replaced by a nipple-carrying plug;. and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 7 but showing a mouthpiece in lieu of the plug thereof.

In FIG. 1 we have generally illustrated the use of a device 10, embodying our invention, in mouth-to-mouth respiration applied by a rescuer (right) to a victim (left) of a drowning accident. The device comprises, essentially, a face mask 11 and a tubular attachment 12 terminating in a mouthpiece which accommodates the lips of the rescuer; the mask 11 is secured by suitable fastening means, such as a rubber strap 13, to the head of the patient.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, in which the device 10 is shown in greater detail, the mask 11 is in a partially collapsed or flattened state which it assumes by reason of the inherent resiliency of its material (e.g. polyethene) when not in use. The mask 11 has a breathing hole formed by a tubular boss 15 through which air may pass into or from its interior and 'which has the attachment 12 press-fitted to it. This attachment has a shoulder 16 formed with a set of angularly spaced venting apertures 17 (only two being visible) whereby air may escape from the central bore of the attachment into the atmosphere. The mouthpiece 13, screwed at 18 into the forward end of attachment 12, has a similar array of inlet apertures 19 and is formed around this array with an annular groove 20 into which the lips of the person blowing through the mouthpiece may be pressed.

The tubular attachment 12 further is provided with a lateral port 21 communicating with a nipple 22, the latter being normally sealed against escaping air by a springloaded ball check 23. Port 21 registers with a clearance between two valve disks 24, 25 which is permanently held open by spacer pins 26 on disk 24 (see also FIG. 4), the disks being limitedly movable within the cylindrical bore of the attachment so that disk 24 blocks the apertures 19 in one limiting position thereof whereas disk 25 blocks the aperture 17 .in the other limiting position. The disks have central holes 34, 35 through which air may pass from the direction of mouthpiece 13 and from that of boss 15, respectively. The transparency of the attachment 12 enables ready visual ascertainment of the position of the valve disks therewithin so that their proper functioning may be verified.

When a rescuer blows into the apertures 19, the disks 24, 25 move toward the mask 11 (Le. to the left in FIG. 2) and unblock these apertures-while covering the venting holes 17. The air breathed into the mouthpiece 13 then passes through attachment 12 and boss 15 into the interior of the mask 11 and thence into the mouth and nose of the patient to be revived.

When air is expelled from the patients respiratory system, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2, the disks 24, 25 move in the opposite sense (to the right in FIG. 2) so as to block the mouth piece while permitting the air to reach the atmosphere via the vents 17.

. When air or oxygen under pressure is admitted through the nipple 22, the disks 24, 25 are forced apart to block the apertures 17 and 19 while allowing the injected gas to pass through the boss 15 into the mask 11.

In FIGS. 5 and 6 we show a modified attachment 112 formed with an extension 112' to which a mouthpiece 113 is reversibly attached by screw threads 118. Extension 112' is provided with an array of inlet apertures 119 adapted to be blocked by an axially slidable disk 125 within attachment 112; in its alternate position the disk covers the venting apertures 117 of the attachment. Mouthpiece 113 has a throughgoing central bore 128 and is formed on one side with a boss 129, surrounded by the annular groove 120, while bearing on the opposite side a nipple 122 formed with a multiplicity of outlet openings 123 to reduce the blowing effort of the rescuer. When the mouthpiece is inverted for attachment of the nipple 122 to a connecting hose 124, as shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 6, the lateral openings 123 of the nipple are covered but the central bore 128 suffices to carry the air or oxygen arriving under pressure.

The attachment 212 of FIGS. 7 and 8, containing a valve disk 225, has screw threads 218 for receiving either a plug 229 or a mouthpiece 213. Plug 229 has a nipple 222 with a central bore 228 and an array of inlet apertures 30 radially offset-from the center hole 235 of disk 225. Vents 217 can again be blocked by the disk, as previously described, when the same is in its in-breathing position as shown in FIG. 7. Mouthpiece 213 is generally similar to mouthpiece 13 and has aperture 219 capable of being covered by the disk when the patient exhales.

Our invention is, of course, not limited to the specific embodiments described and illustrated but may be realized in various modifications and adaptations within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An attachment for a resuscitation device positionable to project outwardly from a face mask provided with a breathing hole, said attachment having a body with a forward end formed with an array of angularly spaced-apart inlet apertures, a rear shoulder formed with an array of angularly spaced outlet apertures and a valve chamber between said ends, said forward end including a mouthpiece giving access to said inlet apertures for blowing into same, a pair of spaced-apart disks loosely disposed in said valve chamber for axial displacement by air pressure only, said disks having each a central opening aligned with said hole and at least one solid portion for alternately blocking said outlet and inlet apertures in response to air pressure from said mouthpiece and from said hole, respectively, additional inlet means communicating with the interior of said attachment and forming a nozzle thereon connectable to a source of fiuid under pressure, said additional inlet means having a port which opens laterally into said attachment in the region between said disks, one of said disks being provided with spacer means for maintaining between said disks a clearance communicating with said port, and a check valve in said nozzle for preventing the escape of air therethrough from said attachment.

2. An attachment according to claim 1 wherein said body consists of transparent plastic material.

3. An attachment according to claim 1 wherein said disk means consists of resilient plastic material.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,848,234 3/1932 Swope 128-29 2,280,050 4/1942 Alexander 128-29 2,823,667 2/1958 Raiche 128-29 2,876,785 3/1959 Huxley 128-29 2,940,464 6/1960 Moen 137-218 2,990,838 7/1961 Cross 137-63 3,006,337 10/1961 Aguado 128-29 3,124,124 3/1964 Cross 128-29 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primaiy Examiner. 

1. AN ATTACHMENT FOR A RESUSCITATION DEVICE POSITIONABLE TO PROJECT OUTWARDLY FROM A FACE MASK PROVIDED WITH A BREATHING HOLE, SAID ATTACHMENT HAGING A BODY WITH A FORWARD END FORMED WITH AN ARRAY OF ANGULARLY SPACED-APART INLET APERTURES, A REAR SHOULDER FORMED WITH AN ARRAY OF ANGULARLY SPACED OUTLET APERTURES AND A VALVE CHAMBER BETWEEN SAID ENDS, SAID FORWARD END INCLUDING A MOUTHPIECE GIVING ACCESS TO SAID INLET APERTURES FOR BLOWING INTO SAME, A PAIR OF SPACED-APART DISKS LOOSELY DISPOSED IN SAID VALVE CHAMBER FOR AXIAL DISPLACEMENT BY AIR PRESSURE ONLY, SAID DISKS HAVING EACH A CENTRAL OPENING ALIGNED WITH SAID HOLE AND AT LEAST ON SOLID PORTION FOR ALTERNATELY BLOCKING SAID OUTLET AND INLET APERTURES IN RESPONSE TO AIR PRESSURE FROM SAID MOUTHPIECE AND FROM SAID HOLE, RESPECTIVELY, ADDITIONAL INLET MEANS COMMUNINCATING WITH THE INTERIOR OF SAID ATTACHMENT AND FORMING A NOZZLE THEREON CONNECTABLE TO A SOURCE OF FLUID UNDER PRESSURE, SAID ADDITIONAL INLET MEANS HAVING A PORT WHICH OPENS LATERALLY INTO SAID ATTACHMENT IN THE REGION BETWEEN SAID DISKS, ONE OF SAID DISKS BEING PROVIDED WITH SPACER MEANS FOR MAINTIANING BETWEEN SAID DISKS A CLEARANCE COMMUNICATING WITH SAID PORT, AND A CHECK VALVE IN SAID NOZZLE FOR PREVENTING THE ESCAPE OF AIR THERETHROUGH FROM SAID ATTACHMENT. 